RIO DE JANEIRO – For winning his first performance bonus in four years, UFC 153’s Jon Fitch had to thank opponent Erick Silva.

“Great fights are made when both guys are coming in to finish and take risk, and tonight, he was the perfect opponent for me to show what I’m really about and kind of restart my career,” Fitch told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

An extra $70,000 staved off dire financial straits for the onetime welterweight title challenger, whose boss, UFC President Dana White, said a much-reported rift between the two is a “myth.”

“This all stems from the whole video game stuff that happened a long time ago,” said White, referring to a public spat with the fighter over likeness rights that ended in a temporary release from the UFC. “You’ve never heard me say anything negative about Fitch or diss Fitch in any way.

“People complain about Jon Fitch laying on people. This is mixed martial arts. Your job is to keep them from doing it, and tonight, Erick Silva did that. Fitch was grinding him against the fence the way that he does, and Silva got out and countered, and it was a back and forth fight. Both guys looked awesome.”

Fitch (24-4-1 MMA, 14-2-1 UFC), who openly discussed his financial woes leading into Saturday’s fight, returned for the first time since a knockout loss to Johny Hendricks and visibly broke hot prospect Silva (14-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) en route to a unanimous decision. The fight served on the pay-per-view main card of the event, which took place at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janiero.

As for the dual checks owed to him for his win and his bonus, which he hadn’t enjoyed since a losing effort against welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre at UFC 87, Fitch expressed gratitude.

“It gives me a lot of comfort,” he said. “It gives me a lot of space to not have to worry about money. I can just focus on training and doing what I love.

“It was just huge. I needed to step up and I needed have confidence in myself and my game and just go for it, and know that even if I made a mistake or got put in a bad position, I would still come out on top.”

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